Reference page — cumulative record through Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC. Reference pages update as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record.
AV AC PR UI S C I A CVSS EPSS %ile KEV L H L N U H H H 7.0 .0028 19.4 —
AFFECTED Product Versions Fixed Linux 57dbb2d83d100ea601c54fe129bfde0678db5dee – — Linux 2.6.34 – 5.4.291
TIMELINE Dec 29 Reserved by Linux Feb 18 Published (CNA: Linux) Oct 15 RESCORED — CVE-2025-21702 (Linux). CVSS 7.8 → 7 (NVD).
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pfifo_tail_enqueue: Drop new packet when sch->limit == 0 Expected behaviour: In case we reach scheduler's limit, pfifo_tail_enqueue() will drop a packet in scheduler's queue and decrease scheduler's qlen by one. Then, pfifo_tail_enqueue() enqueue new packet and increase scheduler's qlen by one. Finally, pfifo_tail_enqueue() return `NET_XMIT_CN` status code. Weird behaviour: In case we set `sch->limit == 0` and trigger pfifo_tail_enqueue() on a scheduler that has no packet, the 'drop a packet' step will do nothing. This means the scheduler's qlen still has value equal 0. Then, we continue to enqueue new packet and increase scheduler's qlen by one. In summary, we can leverage pfifo_tail_enqueue() to increase qlen by one and return `NET_XMIT_CN` status code. The problem is: Let's say we have two qdiscs: Qdisc_A and Qdisc_B. - Qdisc_A's type must have '->graft()' function to create parent/child relationship. Let's say Qdisc_A's type is `hfsc`. Enqueue packet to this qdisc will trigger `hfsc_enqueue`. - Qdisc_B's type is pfifo_head_drop. Enqueue packet to this qdisc will trigger `pfifo_tail_enqueue`. - Qdisc_B is configured to have `sch->limit == 0`. - Qdisc_A is configured to route the enqueued's packet to Qdisc_B. Enqueue packet through Qdisc_A will lead to: - hfsc_enqueue(Qdisc_A) -> pfifo_tail_enqueue(Qdisc_B) - Qdisc_B->q.qlen += 1 - pfifo_tail_enqueue() return `NET_XMIT_CN` - hfsc_enqueue() check for `NET_XMIT_SUCCESS` and see `NET_XMIT_CN` => hfsc_enqueue() don't increase qlen of Qdisc_A. The whole process lead to a situation where Qdisc_A->q.qlen == 0 and Qdisc_B->q.qlen == 1. Replace 'hfsc' with other type (for example: 'drr') still lead to the same problem. This violate the design where parent's qlen should equal to the sum of its childrens'qlen. Bug impact: This issue can be used for user->kernel privilege escalation when it is reachable.
| Date | Event | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| December 29, 2024 | Reserved | Reserved by Linux |
| February 18, 2025 | Published | Published (CNA: Linux) |
| October 15, 2026 | RESCORED | RESCORED — CVE-2025-21702 (Linux). CVSS 7.8 → 7 (NVD). |
Authoritative record: CVE-2025-21702 at cve.org
Vendors: linux
This is a reference page, not a dated page of record. It assembles the complete lifecycle of CVE-2025-21702 from the CVE Program record, NVD enrichment, the CISA KEV catalog, EPSS, and OSV advisories. The box score's numbers (CVSS, EPSS, KEV status) are current as of Monday, October 19, 2026 UTC and are re-derived as the archive grows; only dated daily editions are immutable pages of record. The authoritative source for this identifier is cve.org.
